Squawk! Social media for the solitary bird: find your flock, express yourself, stand out from the crowd: Common sense social media strategies for the

How can you professionally represent yourself, communicate your cause, and brand your business in social media without sacrificing your entire life to do it? Squawk! is ideal for the small business or consultant who has little or no advertising budget, or who realizes that advertising doesn’t work in today’s world. This book is dedicated to the art of professional networking and personal branding; it shows you how to represent yourself, your cause, or your business in social media. Squawk! contains common sense suggestions on how to work with all forms of social media. Learn how to: 1. Design your social media platform to create an honest no-hype presence 2. Spread your social media message to gain a real following 3. Use social media to brand your business 4. Credibility: use social media to establish yourself as an authority 5. Use social media to help your customers make informed decisions 6. Image making: use social media to build an image of who you are and what you do 7. Communicate effectively through social media8. Stand out in the social media forest-:-:-Q. What is social media?A. It is a grass-roots movement, a running conversation between individuals of like interests; an interactive, multimedia forum of democratic voices, a community of empowered individuals. Social media is what media was supposed to be: it is the voice of the everyman/woman; an essential partner in any society that aspires to the values of democratic action, individual expression, and free speech. Social media is an ever-shifting collection of voices, special interests, groups of associated individuals; who may or may not admit to being a member of any community.Q. What is social media NOT? A. It is not advertising, not broadcasting, not a platform for self-aggrandizement.Q. Who is the social media individual? A. He/she is a pioneer of conversation and a resident of a global community, a willing, conscious participant of viral concepts and ideas; he/she values free speech over propaganda, and values the independent expression of his/her neighbor over official versions.-:-:- ADVANCE REVIEW I really love this book…it is really valuable to have at the side of your desk for dipping into immediately. I use it as a serious reference and to better understand the increasingly complex and confusing world of social media marketing, which can at best become overwhelming and at worst a real nightmare. Aliyah has written not only a common sense description of easy-to-follow building blocks and integrated platforms but added her usual unique sparkle of wit, fun and creativity into the process. This makes this book a pleasure to read on topics which are often presented in such a tedious and off-putting nerdy way, but this book tells you how it is, straight and no messing about. This book will make you laugh and smile as well as reflect and ponder. Writers are advised endlessly to Twitter our Facebooks and StumbleUpon our LinkedIn. Now I think I have at last informally learned something practical and useful at a cost effective price and can now HootSuite the lot. ~ Roy B. (originally written for the first edition, called Bird Seed)-:-:-Social Media,Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Marketing, Social Media, Branding, Success in Business, Internet Marketing, Home-based Business, Online Advertising, Advertising Writing Skills, Sales and Selling, Social Media Marketing, Web Business, E-Commerce Small Business, Wordpress, blogs